For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus1 Timothy 2:5

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.Hebrews 7:23-25

He is ” ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except throughme.” John 14:6

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.” Our Lady of Fatima‘s Second Secret

“We often more quickly obtain what we ask by calling on the name of Mary than by invoking that of Jesus. She…is our Salvation, our Life, our Hope, our Counsel, our Refuge, our Help” (The Glories of Mary by Bishop Alphonse de Ligouri (Brooklyn: Redemptorist Fathers, pp. 254, 257). letusreason.org

“Mary is the perfect Orans prayer, a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father” (Catechism 2679) letusreason.org

Pope Pius IX in 1854 “Let all the children of the Catholic Church … Proceed to worship, invoke, and pray to the most blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God. ” letusreason.org

Competing with Christ, Conflict with Scripture

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Since Our Lady of Fatima(the Virgin Mary) asserts an equivalent position to Christ with respect to mediating salvation, we have a problem on our hands since 1 Timothy 2:5 together with Hebrews 7:23-25, Acts 4:11-12 and John 14:6 clearly and unequivocally state that Jesus Christ is the eternal and sole mediator who can save us and that he is the only way to the Father. Can the Virgin Mary have any possible rivaling salvaging role that also happens to be supported by scripture? No, it doesn’t… because salvation is a business done by Jesus and Jesus only. Scripture leaves no room for doubt or compromise.

For those who are still not convinced that indeed Catholics worship Mary, here are some quotes and pictures that should resolve any possible lingering controversy:

Pope Benedict XV said of Mary that “[O]ne can justly say that with Christ, she herself redeemed mankind.” [10] jesus-is-savior.com

Pope Pius IX said, “Our salvation is based upon the holy Virgin… so that if there is any hope and spiritual healing for us we receive it solely and uniquely from her.” [11] jesus-is-savior.com

If you want to see what a person’s real priorities are, then watch what they do when their life, or the life of a loved one, is in danger. When Pope John Paul II was shot, while the ambulance was rushing him to the hospital, the Pope was not praying to God or calling on the name of Jesus. He kept saying, over and over, “Mary, my mother!” Polish pilgrims placed a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa on the throne where the Pope normally sat. People gathered around the picture. Vatican loudspeakers broadcasted the prayers of the rosary. When the Pope recovered, he gave Mary all the glory for saving his life, and he made a pilgrimage to Fatima to publicly thank her. [4]jesus-is-savior.com

Alfonsus de Liguori (1696-1787) was a principal proponent of the Marianist Movement, which glorifies Mary. He wrote a book entitled The Glories of Mary which is famous, influential and widely read. In this book, de Liguori says that Mary was given rulership over one half of the kingdom of God; Mary rules over the kingdom of mercy and Jesus rules over the kingdom of justice. De Liguori said that people should pray to Mary as a mediator and look to her as an object of trust for answered prayer. The book even says that there is no salvation outside of Mary. Some people suggest that these views are extreme and not representative of Catholic Church teaching. However, instead of silencing de Liguori as a heretic, the Catholic Church canonized him as a saint and declared him to be a “doctor of the Church” (a person whose teachings carry weight and authority). Furthermore, his book is openly and officially promoted by the Catholic Church, and his teachings have influenced popes. [9] jesus-is-savior.com

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.Second Commandment

Pope John Paull II has 'dedicated himself and his Pontificate to Our Lady.' He bears the letter "M" for Mary in his coat of arms. And his personal motto, which is embroidered on the side of his robes in Latin is the following: "TOTUS TUUS SUM MARIA", which in English translates to: "MARY, I'M ALL YOURS."

Pope Benedict XVI. prays below the Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes at the entrance to the Grotto of Massabielle on September 12, 2008 in Lourdes, France. Pope Benedict XVI is on his first apostolic visit in France and mark the 150th anniversary of the Virgin Mary's reputed appearance at Lourdes. (September 13, 2008 - Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images Europe)

"Membership in the Militia means complete dedication to the Kingdom of God and to the salvation of souls through Mary Immaculate." -Pope John Paul II

So, on what basis does the Catholic Church elevate the Virgin Mary to a position that is equivalent to that of Jesus?

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, for this simple reason, Mary is the mother of the Son of God.

Jesus is not only the Son of God but is also God, if we contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity, by which we say that God is three different persons but one true God. theworkofgod.org

There is some confusion as to the nature of Mary. Catholics argue that since Jesus is the Son of God (the Father) and Mary was Jesus’ mother then Mary has to be the Mother of God. As such, Mary supposedly would have a rightful place among the Father and the Son. This is how Catholic attribute Mary with a divine essence.

Unfortunately for the Catholics, Mary only served as the biological mother of the carnal Jesus. The spirit Jesus is an altogether different story. The carnal Mary never had authority over the spirit of Jesus. Indeed, the spirit of Jesus is God and so is completely out of reach for the carnal Mary. Her only task was to mother the carnal Jesus.

The "Shield of the Trinity" or "Scutum Fidei" diagram of traditional Western Christian symbolism. (Wikipedia)

Since the carnal Mary has long ago died, what about the spirit of the now dead Mary? Where does the Virgin Mary fit in this scheme? The short answer is: nowhere. The slightly longer answer: Mary as a carnal being has no relevance to and role in a spiritual scheme that lays out the interrelatedness of the ultimate divine authority, the Holy Trinity. Again, Mary’s sole purpose was to mother and raise the carnal Jesus, the vessel of the spirit of Jesus and indeed the vessel of God. Mary never had any authority beyond that of raising the vessel of God.

Indeed, if the Virgin Mary is worthy of worship, since she is the “Mother of God”, then what about the mother of Mary? Surely, since the dead Mary can be put on the same pedestal as Christ or even beyond by virtue of being His mother, then surely even more sanctity ought to be granted to the mother of the “Mother of God”? And what about the grandmother of the mother of Christ? And what about the great-grandmother of Christ’s mother? Surely they all deserve a place next to the throne of God? We can continue this exercise of iteration all the way down to the first mother, Eve. Since she has to be ultimate maternal ancestor of Christ then surely she deserves a pedestal of worship next to or beyond the thrown of God too, no? Perhaps she even deserves the most esteemed pedestal? It would seem that the thrown of God has become awfully crowded with Christ’s dead maternal ancestors.

And what about the paternal parental side of Mary? Are the paternal ancestors of Mary also worthy of worship? While Christ has been conceived from a virginal Mary, surely this is not the case with the parents of Christ? Therefore Christ’s maternal grandparents can both be regarded as equally important in conceiving and raising Mary. While adhering to Catholic doctrinal logic, I would say deification of both of them is in order then too, no?

Hence the thrown of God gets even more crowded. When taken to extreme but consistent application, do you see how absurd the underlying argument for the deification of Mary really is? This argument is ultimately based on the Catholic dogma of the veneration of dead people.

What does the Bible say about worshiping the dead?

Detestable Practices

9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in [a] the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God.Deuteronomy 18:9-13

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.Isaiah 8:19-22

Scriptures leaves no room for worshiping the dead, including Mary. Therefore it should not be done as it is counter to the will of God.

Inside the Fatima Shrine at Lewiston, New York (picture taken August 09)

Mariology, Catholic Mary Apologetics

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On contemplating the Holy Trinity, since the positions of the Son and the Father obviously are already taken, one may be led to argue that perhaps Mary is identical to the Holy Spirit. The scriptures however, leave no room for doubt and state explicitly that Mary and the Holy Spirit are two different beings:

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.Matthew 1:18-20

Hence the act of the deification of the Virgin Mary is entirely unsupported by scripture. What does the Catholic doctrine of Mary Apologetics have to say in defense of the illegal deification of the Virgin Mary?

According to theworkofgod.org there supposedly are a number of scriptures that “form the basis for venerating the Virgin Mary as Mother of God”. This site claims that the woman spoken of in Genesis 3 is the Virgin Mary, which is a blatant lie since that woman obviously is Eve, not Mary. It then goes on to quote a number of scriptures which basically state that Mary bore Jesus as a virgin and that she was blessedetc…

Now I am not arguing the meaning of those scriptures and I am in no way belittling the exceptional role and virtue of the carnal mother of Jesus. However, what I do have trouble with is the elevation of Mary to a spiritual position of authority that somehow rivals her son’s; an act which precisely is not supported by scripture. Any attempt to do so is a corruption of the teachings of Jesus and therefore is a corruption of the very Word of God.

Indeed from eefweb.org, we read more on the awkward and artificial position of the Virgin Mary:

Mariology is the body of doctrine surrounding the Catholic position on the deification of Mary the mother of Jesus. Perhaps the first hint of emphasizing Mary came from Irenaeus, who during the second century, contrasted Eve’s disobedience with Mary’s obedience. The contrast came from Paul’s contrast of Adam’s disobedience with that of Jesus’ obedience. This evaluation although accurate does not justify the correlation between Mary and Eve. It was further believed that this correlation meant that Mary was central to the salvation of the world through the new creation and thus making her co-redemptrix with her Son and mother of the Church. Later in 431 at the Council of Ephesus the term Mother of God (theotokos) was adopted as an official title for Mary. It was later believed by the Church that the extrabiblical writings which describe the Assumption of Mary were authoritative and this doctrine and related doctrine became formal positions of the Church. Even today pressure is being put upon the Pope to formally recognize Mary as co-mediatrix with Christ as the two of them (along with the recognized Saints) are interceding on behalf of the Church with prayers to the Father.

However, we can see why the Reformers objected so strongly to this teaching. Such doctrines, whether or not they are supported by the extra-biblical writings, are in clear contradiction with the writing of the New Testament where Jesus is described as the only Mediator between man and God. Peter himself declares that there is no other name by which a man can be saved other than the name Jesus. (Acts 4:11)

The scriptures also declare that it is Jesus who intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:23-28) and His sacrifice is sufficient to atone or propitiate for the sins of the Church. There is no biblical basis for ascribing such attributes to any other than Christ.eefweb.org

The next quote succinctly sums up the fatal contradiction of the illegal deification of Mary:

4. The fatal flaw is that Mary is never called the Mother of God in the Scriptures

Indeed, Mary admits to her humanly humble and submissive character herself in Luke 1:

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.Luke 1:38

The Song of Mary

46And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.Luke 1: 46-49

Therefore, whoever or whatever it is that represents Our Lady of Fatima, i.e. the Virgin Mary, is laying claim to a position that rightfully and exclusively belongs to Christ Jesus. This blatant act of usurpation, in which the usurper boldly competes with Christ Himself, shows that its underlying doctrine is counter to Christ’s teachings. Moreover it is, by its antagonistic and competitive construction, very much anti-Christian indeed.

What Being does Our Lady of Fatima Represent?

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Hence the Virgin Mary must represent a demonic authority of some kind. So then, what exactly is this “Our Lady of Fatima”, the “Virgin Mary”, the supposed “Mother of God” and self-styled “Queen of Heaven”?

“Great Mother,” “Queen of Heaven,” “Mother of God.” All of these titles have been attached to Isis. Ishtar too, the Babylonian goddess, had similar titles. Moreover, the lines between the various goddesses of antiquity blur, with each mirroring the other in terms of purpose, symbolism, and meaning.

“The importance of mother goddesses in the various mythologies of paganism is so evident that even a shallow description could easily fill entire volumes…The mother goddess received different names and external appearances, but, in substance, she was always the same. In Egypt, she was called Isis. In Crete, she was represented as a mother who made friendly contact with snakes. In Greece she was known as Demeter, and in Rome she was worshiped as Cybele, the Magna Mater (Great Mother), a mother goddess of Phrygian origin. There is practically no ancient culture that did not worship this type of deity.” ( The Myth of Mary, pp.74, 75)

[…]

The biblical figure of Mary has been erroneously elevated to a goddess status by Roman Catholic theologians. She is known as the Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, Eternal Virgin, Queen of Peace, Our Mother, Lady of the Good Death, Co-mediatrix, and Blessed Mother. Thousands of shrines around the world commemorate her. Visions, apparitions, visitations, and channeled messages accompany the mystical experiences of her followers.

Cesar Vidal elaborates,

“The idea of the universal motherhood of Mary, which does not appear historically until the 11th century, has a much greater connection with paganism than with Scripture. The same can be said of the representation of Mary with the divine child. This concept was also unknown…in the first centuries of Christianity.

…it is especially significant that Mary worship, which we find in Catholicism and in the Eastern churches, does not stem at any point from biblical concepts, but from the absorption of pagan theologies like those present in the myths of Isis, Demeter and Cybele.” ( The Myth of Mary, p. 86, 89)

Concerning the pagan goddess influence within the Roman concept of “Mary,” historian Will Durant draws a similar conclusion to that of Vidal. Christian apologist Dave Hunt (see Occult Invasion), along with a host of other historians and researchers, also recognize this basic linkage. Even occult sources such as H.P. Blavatsky [Isis Unveiled, volume II] and Manly P. Hall [The Secret Teachings of All Ages] attest to this goddess Roman-Mary interconnection. Sadly, this Romanized-paganized Mary is now being embraced by some within Protestant circles [see T.A. McMahon’s article in the October 2000 issue of The Berean Call].crossroad.to

Semiramis and Nimrod

The Virgin Mary and Jesus

Isis and Horus

Throughout the Near East, this mother goddess was variously known as Astarte, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Cybele, Demeter, Ceres, Aphrodite, Venus, and Freya.

She had a special lover (sometimes called her son; and in one case, her daughter). Thus, for example, we have Isis and Horus the sun-god (Osiris was the son) in Egypt (in later Egypt, Osiris was called Serapis), Ishtar and Tammuz in Babylon and Sumeria, Cybele and Attis in Phrygia, Aphrodite (or Adonis) and Adonis in Syria, Atys and Bendis in Asia, and Anaita and Haoma (later called Mithra) in Persia.

She also had a special son (who was sometimes the same as his father), so we have Isis and Osiris in Egypt, Ishtar and Tammuz in Babylonia, Astarte and Adonis in Syria, Demeter and Persephone (a daughter) in Greece, and Cybele and Attis in Phrygia.

In Greece, she was called Demeter, and she obtained the yearly resurrection each spring of her daughter (not a son in this instance), Persephone.

“Essentially it [the myth of Demeter and Persephone] was the same myth as that of Isis and Osiris in Egypt, Tammuz and Ishtar in Babylonia, Astarte and Adonis in Syria, Cybele and Attis in Phrygia. The cult of motherhood survived through classical times to take new life in the worship of Mary the Mother of God.”–Will Durant, History of Civilization, Vol. 2, p. 178. pathlights.com

The Virgin Mary on the Crescent Moon

Astarte on the Crescent Moon

The Virgin Mary on the Crescent Moon

Astarte

(Greek) Greek form of the Syro-Phoenician goddess Ashtoreth, female counterpart of Baal. The goddess of love and fruitfulness, she was essentially a lunar goddess of productiveness or fertility. The Assyrian and Babylonian form was Ishtar, in Syria Atargates, in Phrygia Cybele, in the Bible Ashtoreth, and in North Africa Tanith or Dido. She was intimately connected in the Chaldean form of her worship with the planet Venus. She corresponds to the Egyptian Isis or Hathor, Greek Aphrodite, and Norse Freya. The Virgin Mary represented on the crescent moon weeping, is taken from similar images of Astarte (BCW 11:96-7).dictionary.babylon.com

Ashtoreth

the moon goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the passive principle in nature, their principal female deity; frequently associated with the name of Baal, the sun-god, their chief male deity (Judg. 10:6; 1 Sam. 7:4; 12:10). These names often occur in the plural (Ashtaroth, Baalim), probably as indicating either different statues or different modifications of the deities. This deity is spoken of as Ashtoreth of the Zidonians. She was the Ishtar of the Accadians and the Astarte of the Greeks (Jer. 44:17; 1 Kings 11:5, 33; 2 Kings 23:13). There was a temple of this goddess among the Philistines in the time of Saul (1 Sam. 31:10). Under the name of Ishtar, she was one of the great deities of the Assyrians. The Phoenicians called her Astarte. Solomon introduced the worship of this idol (1 Kings 11:33). Jezebel’s 400 priests were probably employed in its service (1 Kings 18:19). It was called the “queen of heaven” (Jer. 44:25).dictionary.babylon.com

Ashtoreth

Ishtar

Venus

Demeter

Encyclopedia Britannica:

“Through her identification with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, Inanna-Ishtar, the queen of heaven, still survives in Roman Catholic iconography – e.g., as the Virgin Mary standing on the moon.”

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894:

“Queen of Heaven with the ancient Phoenicians, was Astarte; Greeks, Hera; Romans, Juno; Trivia, Hecate, Diana, the Egyptian Isis, etc., were all so called; but with the Roman Catholics it is the Virgin Mary.”

Temple of the Temptress:

“Diana was called the Mother goddess and Queen of heaven, just as Mary is called Mother of god and queen of heaven.” topical-bible-studies.org

Jezebel, queen of Israel and priestess of Baal

The historical Israeli queen called Jezebel was possessed by what later came to be known as a Jezebel spirit. This kind of spirit actually refers to a demon produced by a goddess known as Ashtoreth (see my Appendix III). By completely relinquishing her own free will, the person of Jezebel came to completely identify with this type of demon. As such, the historical person of Jezebel and the demon became inseparably linked with one another. It should come as little surprise that the total identification of host, or captive, with the demon is further evidenced by the fact that Jezebel principally establishing Ashtoreth worship in Israel. So when the literature speaks of the Jezebel spirit or Ashtoreth/Ashtaroth, for all practical purposes, they mean one and the same being. When Love Yields to Fear – What is a Jezebel Spirit all About?

Our Lady of Fatima, Usurper and Deceiver

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them,God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” Second Secret

By elevating herself above the world above humanity claiming a position that belongs to Christ and Christ alone and by claiming to represent God, she proves to be a usurper.

“When you see a night illumined by an unknown light*, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.
[…]If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church.”Second Secret

By pretending to act in the name of God and by using the imposition of fear (terror) as a means to try and have her way, she proves to be a wicked and indeed, a demonic deceiver.

God would never use fear as a manipulative means to force His will on us:

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Indeed, God is the very antagonist of fear:

“Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”1 John 4:8“We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”1 John 4:16

Even if we make the wrong choices, God would never punish us unlike Our Lady of Fatima who threatens to use atheistic Russia as a “stick” to punish the rest of the world (see the next installment to learn of the occult control of the Soviet Union by the Catholic Church).

Therefore, it cannot be avoided to deduce that Our Lady of Fatima is a fear mongering usurper that once and for all needs to be exposed as per Ephesians 5:11 and be taken for the true demon goddess that she really is.

Our Lady of Fatima again "on top of the world" and worshiped by, what seem to be, Catholic monks...